Long-term steroid use may hike the risk of heart failure

[BendtheBar]

Long-term steroid use may hike the risk of heart failure

Long-term steroid use may hike the risk of heart failure - White Coat Notes - Boston.com

Athletes who take anabolic steroids to build up their muscles may also be weakening their hearts, a new study from McLean Hospital suggests.

The illegal supplements, which mimic the male hormone testosterone, can damage the liver, harm male fertility, and cause violent mood swings, but their effects on the heart have not been as clear. Dr. Harrison Pope of McLean and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a small study of male body builders to answer the question. Their results appear in the current issue of the American Heart Association Journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

The researchers recruited participants through ads in gyms popular with weight lifters. They enrolled 12 steroids users, who had been taking the drugs for an average of nine years. Seven nonusers were included as a comparison group. Across both groups the average age was 40 and their exercise habits were similar. Their medical history, weight, and body fat content were also recorded. To test their heart function, they all had echocardiograms, which are tests that use sounds waves to show blood moving through the heart.

The heart tests showed that the steroids users had a lower ability to pump blood through their hearts compared to the nonsteroid users. A healthy person's left ventricle can pump 55 to 70 percent of the blood that fills the heart, according to the American Heart Association, but the steroid users' average capacity was 50 percent, placing them at increased risk of heart failure and sudden cardiac death. For the nonusers in the study, the rate was 59 percent.

"Cardiac dysfunction in long-term [steroids] users appears more severe than previously reported, and may be sufficient to increase the risk of heart failure," the authors wrote, noting that the first wave of long-term illegal steroids users from the 1980s may just be reaching middle age now.

Here's the study:

Long Term Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use is Associated with Left Ventricular Dysfunction -- Baggish et al., 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.109.931063 -- Circulation: Heart Failure

Long Term Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use is Associated with Left Ventricular Dysfunction
Aaron L. Baggish1,3; Rory B. Weiner1; Gen Kanayama2; James I. Hudson2; Michael H. Picard1; Adolph M. Hutter, Jr.1 and Harrison G. Pope, Jr.2

1 Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA;
2 McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

* Corresponding author; email: abaggish@partners.org

Background—Although illicit anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use is widespread, the cardiac effects of long-term AAS use remain inadequately characterized. We compared cardiac parameters in weightlifters reporting long-term AAS use to those in otherwise similar weightlifters without prior AAS exposure.

Methods and Results—We performed 2-dimensional, tissue-Doppler, and speckle-tracking echocardiography to assess left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, LV systolic strain, and conventional indices of diastolic function in long-term AAS users (n=12) and otherwise similar AAS non-users (n=7). AAS users (median [Q1, Q3] cumulative lifetime AAS exposure 468 [169-520] weeks) closely resembled non-users in age, prior duration of weightlifting, and current intensity of weight training. LV structural parameters were similar between the two groups. However, AAS users had significantly lower LV ejection fraction (50.6% [48.4, 53.6] versus 59.1% [58.0, 61.7]; p = 0.003 by Wilcoxon rank sum test, two-tailed); longitudinal strain (16.9% [14.0, 19.0] versus 21.0% [20.2, 22.9]; p = 0.004), and radial strain (38.3 [28.5, 43.7] versus 50.1 [44.3, 61.8]; p = 0.02). Ten of the 12 AAS users showed LV ejection fractions below the accepted limit of normal (≥55%). AAS users also demonstrated decreased diastolic function compared to non-users, as evidenced by a markedly lower E' velocity (7.4 [6.8, 7.9] versus 9.9 [8.3, 10.5]; p = 0.005) and E/A ratio (0.93 [0.88, 1.39] versus 1.80 [1.48, 2.00]; p = 0.003).

Conclusions—Cardiac dysfunction in long-term AAS users appears more severe than previously reported, and may be sufficient to increase the risk of heart failure.

[Grim83]

this is a **** study im sure. my reasoning being that they cant legally test the long term effects, because it was marked as dangerous and they cant put the subject into "danger", so therefore they have to rely on the truthfulness of the subjects, and what about their families medical history?

[BendtheBar]

I can't imagine how it can be scientifically valid. Probably the result of some extra "pork" funds in Congress.

This is the first study I can't comprehend what the heck they actually did. So I have no clue to its validity.

[Mombow111]

Actually it's a pretty well established fact that high levels of testosterone in animals (as in, say an alpha male), are taxing on an individual (which is why animals scarcely retain the alpha position for a lengthy period of time).

I don't think the study controlled for weight, and body fat, they just used the "rule of thumb", which could have distorted the results. They could haveperformed (and I'm sure they have) similar, more controlled studies on lab animals (which by the way was probably the predication for performing this study).

Testosterrone has to have a trade-off, or else why don't our bodies simply mass produce it.

[kman025]

so does low testosterone....

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by kman025

so does low testosterone....

I think lower testosterone is a serious health risk. But as they said in Bigger, Stronger, Faster...it may be a long time coming before we really understand the impact of high testosterone.

[DieselWeasel]

I never used AAS and I highly doubt that I will ever use it.

My stance is that all possible research should be performed and made available to the public, but lift the ban on every form of anabolic steroids. This is the USA where we're supposed to have the freedom to choose what we can put into our body. The government shouldn't be restricting my ability to make choices. Anyway, look at the amount of deaths due to steroids compared to alcohol and tobacco. What a bunch of bullsh!t.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by DieselWeasel

The government shouldn't be restricting my ability to make choices.

Amen to that.

[onetiredkris]

I have only one question: Ware do i sign up to be in the next study?



wait for it............


here it comes.......


and..